So this past sunday night at the BCM leadership meeting, I was given information on people who had shown an interest in wanting a personal relationship with Jesus. After already planning on going out witnessing with Brad, Clay, and Sarah...the plans changed and Clay, Brad, and I decided to call these people up. The guy I first called said that he was saved back when he was 10, but that he had gotten into a little bit of partying in college and was trying to get back to God....which, as Clay and I discovered implies that he received the Word at once with joy but his plant actually had not root at all, thus no salvation, and he was pulled up. I asked him the question, why did you "accept" Jesus and go down front? To which he responded that he grew up in church and wanted to do it because he saw others do it. I asked him if he had ever at one point in his life realized that he was going to Hell for his sin if he didn't turn to Jesus, to which he answered, "No". I was shocked....As I shared with him the whole reason Jesus gave His life, he still acted as though it wasn't that big of a deal that he had done it for the wrong reasons....what is scary is the Bible says that it would be better if these people were never born! I mean, what a horrible thing to say about someone. I pray that God would convict him of his sin and lack of salvation and point him to Himself. Then, Clay called a girl on my phone who acknowledged that without Christ, Hell would be her destiny and stated that she wanted to turn from her sins to Him. Though she was quite emotional, I guess time will show whether or not that seed was planted on good soil and will produce fruit of a new creation in her. It is scary to think that some people think they are saved and in reality are not. I pray for our campus to have eyes to see their hoplessness apart from totally surrendering all to God's Son and living a life worthy of their calling.
Many times I’ve sat on the front pew just prior to the sermon time looking at the steps to the pulpit. In these moments each Sunday morning I’m reminded of the great task with which I have been entrusted and my own weakness to perform it. After hours of painstaking study and prayerful preparation, I still stare at those steps and feel under qualified, knowing I’ve only scratched the surface of the message. There is a certain holy trembling a preacher feels before climbing those steps to proclaim God’s eternal Word. In centuries past, preachers like Charles Spurgeon and Martyn Lloyd-Jones had to climb winding staircases to reach the “sacred desk”, but many pulpits today are just a few steps above the floor. Whether you have many steps or none at all, it is an other-worldly task we have been given. The following are a few practical steps preachers can take before climbing the real ones on Sunday morning... 1. Get in the Word We must immerse ourselves in the text at the outset o
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